After the 19-hour power outage I briefly mentioned in my previous article (Another AdSense Plugin and More), I had to deal with another problem. My DSL connection was off and on all day today. I couldn't stay connected more than two or three minutes at a time before being unceremoniously dumped from the network. I tried to read the same email message via Gmail 20 different times before I finally walked away from the computer. It appears the connection has finally stabilized but I'm not willing to stake anything on it.

***

My son has been keeping me company the last couple days. He didn't have a choice. The roads between here and the college are flooded. The two back-to-back tropical storms that headed to Taiwan dumped so much water on us that half the city is inaccessible by any kind of vehicle. The creek next to my house is completely full with the water moving like a bat out of hell. We're lucky we live in the mountainous area of the city — there's no flooding up here.

***

It's days like today that I need one of these:

When it rains, it pours. Literally. A tropical storm is merely passing the Philippines on its way to Taiwan, yet it's dumping a ton of rain on the islands. It seems that our electric company can't deal with rain (I personally think they can't deal with anything). We were again without power for a few hours this morning. What about my DSL connection? I've been suffering intermittent disconnections all day. It's kind of hard to do research without a connection, don't you think?

***

To tag or not to tag, that is the question. I've been reading up on both the Ultimate Tag Warrior (UTW) plugin and the Simple Tagging for WordPress (STP) plugin. I've also read or heard that the WordPress developers were trying to incorporate tagging into the core files and aborted/postponed it until the next version.

For a while, it seemed like every blog I came across had tags of one kind or another tacked onto the ends of the articles. The last couple of days, I haven't spotted them on any blogs at all, even on the blogs where I saw them before.

Is tagging better than just using categories? It's something I need to think about.

***

I am not a code monkey. Still, I like to dabble with PHP scripting on occasion, especially if I want to use it on the blog. When I write something that "just works", I like to share it like I did recently with the Google AdSense stuff. I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve that I haven't mentioned. I did briefly mention an odd/even kind of thing to use AdSense on different days than YPN ads. I haven't spent much time on it because I have yet to be approved for YPN (which is still in beta).

***

I was approved by TLA (Text Link Ads), but I think it may be like forever before any advertisers become interested in my blog, if they ever do. That's okay… it's more of test than anything else, just like their "feedvertising". FeedBurner still hasn't approved feed advertising for my feeds and YPN hasn't approved me yet — they have feed advertising too. I don't care about being approved or not for whichever, I just don't like waiting on a yes or a no answer.

***

A couple of other bloggers are under the mistaken impression that this is a popular blog. With a page rank of 4 and an Alexa rating that fluctuates between 50K and 100K, I just don't see it that way. I don't even have 200 feed reader subscribers yet. I may not be a newbie, but I'm no big-timer like Darren Rowse or Jeremy Schoemaker either. Perhaps some day I will be, if I ever get the desire to actually start a blog that fills a niche. Somehow, I seriously doubt it.

The last few days have been a little rough for me. I haven't been getting the amount of sleep necessary and I've been dealing with a nagging headache. My sleep was continually interrupted by the noise of all the animals in this area. Chickens, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, and even water buffalo that seem to make more noise at night than they do during the day have been noisier than usual. The miscellaneous noises tend to wake me up when I don't need to be woken. Once I'm awake, after having at least two hours of sleep, it's nearly impossible for me to go back to sleep.

The combined fatigue and headaches have caused me to do some really stupid things. I sent a guest article to another blog author and it was completely inappropriate in tone and content. It was so bad, I wouldn't have published it on this blog… and I come up with some weird stuff for this blog.

***

I tried the wrong version (the outdated version) of a plugin and it caused one article to repeat itself three times on the blog and seven times in the feed. After I disabled it, the seven repeats were still in the feed. I found the right version and installed it, but I'm going to leave it alone until I actually need it. I don't want to confuse anyone or even myself with needless testing.

***

Sean, the GeekWithLaptop, pointed the way to Website Validator. The service checks your entire blog for XHTML standards compliance. It took about 30 minutes for it to check the 880 pages of my blog. 10 pages had errors, three of which were mine. The rest were in comments. I'm happy to say that my blog is now 100 percent XHTML validated.

***

I have several articles that are in various stages of completion. Three of them are guest articles for other blogs. As far as this blog is concerned, my schedule is completely hosed. I've been trying, rigorously, to keep things flowing in regular intervals. Apparently, it just takes one slip in the cog to screw up a well-oiled machine.

***

Do you have a laptop (or notebook, if you prefer that term)? Does it have a touchpad? I use a wireless optical mouse and never use the touchpad. If I randomly touch it while typing, my cursor jumps around and all other kinds of stupid things happen. Some laptops have a button that turns it off. On mine, I have to go into the mouse properties and disable it. If my laptop goes into standby mode and then I bring it back up, the stupid touchpad gets reactivated. If I was courageous and liked to take chances, I'd open up the laptop and disconnect it. With my luck, the laptop wouldn't work at all when I got done.

***

I have two more articles planned as follow ups to my recent AdSense articles. I can't give the content away, but one or both will include information about the "FeedBurner Advertising Program (FAN)" and the "Yahoo Publishing Network (YPN)". I'm waiting on responses from both FeedBurner and Yahoo. I need some information before I can begin writing the articles.

***

Possibly more randomness to come…

I said I would use some odd headlines when I posted my Bits and Pieces article. This is another one!

Google Search Results

I wish someone would explain to me the differences in all the search results for www.untwistedvortex.com (11,000 results), site:www.untwistedvortex.com (2560 results) and link:www.untwistedvortex.com (490 results) I've been told that the "site:" one represents "Google Hell" or duplicate content. Some recent changes I made will obviously reduce duplicate content on my blog, but what do I do about other sites that have duplicate content pointing to mine?

All this SEO stuff just gives me a headache…

This Is Cool!

Doing a vanity search on Google of my name, as listed on my blog and in comments on other blogs, "RT Cunningham" comes up in the number one spot for my blog. Definitely cool:

Some People Listen But They Just Don't Hear Me

Or maybe it's the other way around. It doesn't matter. Whatever it is that I say or show them, it just doesn't sink in. Take my wife, for example. I'm in the Philippines and she's in the US. We talk to each other pretty much daily via Yahoo Instant Messenger. It takes me an average of an hour to explain to her how to do certain things on the computer she's using. We're both using Windows XP — I set up that computer more than a 16 months ago before I gave it to her cousin (who she's staying with).

I've been running Windows XP since sometime in 2002. My wife sat down beside me many times to watch what I was doing but she didn't absorb any of it. When I tried to explain to her how to do certain things, she told me she wasn't interested and found something else to do. She was computer illiterate and liked it that way. Now she wishes she had listened and paid attention — I told her it would come back to bite her and it did. Life would be so much easier if I could look over her shoulder.

I'm in the process of doing that now. We ran out of time this morning (my morning, her evening) after installing a VNC server on her computer but we'll be continuing the project tomorrow morning. Then I truly will be looking over her shoulder.

The Simpsons Movie

I've been told, since I haven't seen it yet, that "The Simpsons Movie" is all a cartoon, just like the weekly TV series. Whatever happened to the live-action version they were supposed to be working on? Is the following video just a sham? Or was it part of a TV episode I didn't see?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brh6KRvQHBc (Oops, it's been blocked by FOX)

I'm going to be using post titles like "Bits and Pieces" and "Odds and Ends" from now on when I want to write about things that don't deserve a dedicated article and filing them under "Random". This is the first one.

Electronic Mail

As online providers like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo provide more space and features for their web mail services, is it time to ditch the clients on our PCs, Macs and other computers?

I've been using Thunderbird as an email client practically since it was first released. Before that, I used Outlook Express. Even before that, I used Eudora (back when Windows 3.11 was the prevalent OS).

I forgot to pack my USB flash drive when I returned o the Philippines in 2006 (after attending my older son's wedding). I had the portable version of Thunderbird on it. It came in handy when I had to go to an Internet cafe to get online.

I now use Google Mail ("Gmail") for all of my email needs. It's web-based, so it goes where I go without me having to lug around anything extra. While I have Hotmail (Microsoft) and Yahoo email accounts, I never use them. I only have them because I needed them to set up the instant messengers. I have relatives and friends that use all different kinds of instant messengers. I'm in the process of cleaning out the folders in Thunderbird and disabling the POP option from Gmail.

iGoogle

What's in a name? The first time I saw "iGoogle", I thought Google had gone into cahoots with Apple. I mean, Apple is using iAnything for their products: iMac, iPod, iPhone, etc. I don't think that's really the case though since iGoogle is nothing more than the fancy version of the personalized home page they provide for you.

I installed the gadget from Google Bookmarks and am now in the process of moving my bookmarks from Firefox to my Google home page. As far as Google is concerned, I now have Google Reader, Google Trends, Google Analytics, and my Google AdSense overview linked there. It's going to take a while to get all my bookmarks moved over, but the purpose is clear: One place for all my bookmarks wherever I go.

I'm adding stuff to the page and the extra tabs I created, using their "Add Stuff" link of course. I changed the theme to their "Beach" theme and I like it that way. The theme changes in brightness/darkness as the hours in the day changes and it's set for my time zone.

The CSS For My Theme

I don't like the CSS for my theme. The CSS is much longer than I think it needs to be — I didn't create it, so don't holler at me. Anyway, since I created a good, working sandbox for myself on my PC, I'm going to slowly rewrite the CSS and the pages of the theme (as necessary).

The CSS contains a couple of hacks to make it work better with Internet Explorer. I think the hacks are unnecessary. The theme author probably didn't know about some layout tricks that will make Internet Explorer (5, 6 and 7) display just like Firefox, Opera, and possibly others. According to my statistics, 80 percent of my visitors use Firefox, about 15 percent use Internet Explorer and the rest use various other browsers. Heck, that's probably why my Alexa stats haven't been improving lately. Those stats are registered mostly by Internet Explorer users.

I was thinking of combining some of my future posts into even longer posts so it doesn't look like I'm posting so much every day. And then I thought, "Nah!" People get bored trying to read longer articles, especially if it's unrelated nonsense. Believe me, I write a lot of nonsense. Anyway, I don't think this post is too long.

***

I don't know if I talked about my LASIK eye surgery before but this web comic that I stumbled reminded me of it:

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

***

What about The Best Page in the Universe? Talk about humor! This guy's hate mail and his responses are almost as funny as his original articles. Please be aware that he has an unrestrained habit of using expletives. That's okay for most of us adults, but some of you may be easily offended. I love the article I linked to… I hate fanboys of all different things, not just Apple hardware, even though I did say Apple Fanboys Really Need To Shut Up. He did, however, do a much better job of translating his thoughts about it into words.

***

The sad part about the Office Slang I was reading is that I actually used some of these terms when I worked in offices before giving up on the rat race.

***

I love parodies of old songs, especially when the parody makes a little bit of sense. Sung to the tune of "Cat's In The Cradle", Cat in the Kettle is hilarious. You can even read the lyrics as you listen to the tune.

The last time I wrote down some Random Thoughts, I guess I wasn't in the mood to write anything but did it anyway. I just read it again. Who reads that crap? (71 views, so obviously someone)

—

I was recently accused of being a writer. Well, I guess that's true in the sense that I write. The kind of writing that particular person was talking about is the kind of writing that people do when they write novels, plays, screenplays, etc. It's an art form. That is not what I do. What I do is kind of like throwing words at the computer screen and hoping that they'll stick and make sense at the same time.

—

If I was God, I'd be pretty pissed off at the people who keep saying they're doing something in my name or because I said so in some book somewhere. Like Pat Roberts. I wouldn't put them to death or anything so drastic. Rather, I'd shoot them with lighting bolts because I know it would really hurt. Take that, "zap!" and that, "zap!" I feel better just thinking about it and I'm not even God.

—

Do you want to know how to annoy a homosexual person? Every time that person says something that you think is stupid, you say "that's so gay" or something like that. I think I would be annoyed if I was just listening to it from another room.

—

I have hens, roosters and pigs living in my back yard. My wife is raising the hens and the pigs for sale. The roosters, well, they're owned by other relatives and used for cockfights. The roosters bring it on themselves, you know. You think that when they crow, they're saying something like "cocka-doodle-do", when in reality they're saying something like "f***ing ***hole". You don't believe me? Just listen to them sometimes when they're crowing. One crows, then another, and then another and they keep taking turns. Why else would they take turns? They're swearing at each other!

And another thing. People see this in the movies so I really can't blame them for not knowing any better. Roosters do not crow at dawn! The damn birds crow whenever they feel like it! And it's usually when I'm trying to go to sleep!

—

The Chinese must be some peace-loving people. When was the last time you heard about China attacking or invading some small country? China has 1.3 billion people. To China, a country like the US with 298 million people is a small country. They outnumber us four to one. They could do some serious butt-kicking. Next time you want to make fun of a Chinese guy, think about it first. He could bring three of his countrymen and totally kick your butt!

—

I would like it if people started using more words when they speak and write that make it sound like they know what they're talking about. Words like ubiquitous, epiphany and conundrum. When they use words and phrases like "being everywhere", "insight" and "puzzle", they just sound so incredibly boring.

—

That's enough for today. I'll be sure to grace you with some of my wit and wisdom (random thoughts) again some day when the desire wells up in me. Until then, have a good day!

You know those little magnets we used to play with when we were kids? Opposite poles attract while identical poles repel. Why can't that type of resistance or attraction be used to power batteries? They're using resistance to charge batteries with the hybrid cars (when you apply the brakes).

What about temperature changes? That little amount of liquid in a thermometer expands or contracts based on temperature. Why can't pressure or reverse pressure be used to power batteries? We experience temperature changes naturally and pressure can be considered synonymous with resistance.

Whatever happened to that '66 Plymouth that could get 200 mpg with an electric motor mounted to the transmission, a lawnmower engine under the hood above the motor, and batteries in the trunk?

Why isn't anyone investigating this stuff? I'm not talking about those who would squash it.

—

Years ago, I accurately predicted the ubiquitousness of the cell phone. What I didn't predict was how much it would used in the wrong places and at the wrong times. Movie theaters, hospitals… you get the picture.

—

Stress is what happens when you suppress the natural desire to choke the living hell out of someone who deserves it. I live a stress-free life.

—

The television and movie industries could make a fortune by embracing the bittorrent protocol. They could insert advertisements like they do now, but tailor them to specific markets and upload quality XviD files via bittorrent clients. The current versions (ad-free of course) would slowly dwindle because it wouldn't be worth the time to remove the ads and re-upload. I also think that most people would support the new versions (i.e. no fear of re-seeding or blocking IP's or anything like that because these would be legal torrents). The industries could continue to charge for ad-free versions and still make money.

—

I think Einstein's theory of relativity is a load of crap. Why would the speed of light have any bearing on the passage of time? It works for science fiction but there's no basis for it in scientific fact.